Tag Archives: Crush It

Earthquakes, Magnitude and Success

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Earthquakes, Magnitude and Success

 

Do you know how much more violent a 4.0 earthquake is compared to a 5.0 earthquake?  What about a 7.0?

It may seem, simply by looking at the numbers, that a 4.0 quake would produce a similar but slightly less devastating result than a 5.0 quake.  However, this isn’t anywhere near the truth.

As measured with a seismometer, an earthquake that registers 5.0 on the Richter Scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times that of an earthquake that registered 4.0, and thus corresponds to a release of energy 31.6 times that released by the lesser earthquake.

The number of earthquakes registering 2.5 – 5.4 is estimated to be 30,000 annually.  Conversely, the number of 5.5 – 6.0 quakes drops to just 500 per year.  That’s less than 2% of the lesser magnitude in scale.

Why is this important to my readers?

Because I see a powerful relationship between mediocrity and 30,000 quakes per year.  No one really ever feels the efforts of these actions (or earthquakes), because the magnitude of the efforts are weakly measurable at best.  Check out the image below to associate a visual to what I’m discussing.

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I ask myself, “How many daily activities would I label as: Not felt, Minor, Small, or even Moderate in magnitude?”

Even better follow up, what are my expectations for the outcomes of these activities?  I’m guessing they don’t match.  Maybe the image and corresponding labels below will help better paint the picture.  I love pictures and colors so this one really hits home.

magnitude

The reason I chose to write about this topic and how it collides with success is because I was listening to Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk.  He talks passionately about cashing in on your talents and passions by getting all-in on a topic and executing fearlessly.  His well-pronounced goal is to own the NY Jets.  Not a small goal, and definitely one where massive action and focused energy will need to be invested over a long period of time to achieve it.

The magnitude of our outcomes (and success) is closely related to the investment we’re willing to make.

If I’m not willing to invest a great deal of effort and energy into a project, business or idea, then my results WILL BE (100%) limited to the bottom end of the magnitude scale.  Many goals, multiplied by little effort, eat up massive amounts of your time and energy for minimal outcomes.

However, lets consider the highest magnitude.  Who are those individuals experiencing massive success?  They are labeled in the chart above as “Outstanding” or “Extraordinary.”  What do they have in common and how do they spend their time?  Also, notice there are substantially fewer of these super successful people in volume when compared to the mediocre many.  Probably less than 1% of the population.

I don’t think this can be understated.  Little goals, limited effort, and the minor impact outcome are related.  No one feels a minor quake, and 30,000+ happen every year!

ACTION ITEM: I’m personally doing an audit and taking a look at the aspects of my life in which I feel like I’m creating a very minimal impact.  The next choice I must make is to either eliminate the activity or refocus and rededicate my efforts.  Not all efforts deserve the same attention and energy.  I hope this audit will also serve you well.

Let Me Tell You Why I Suck

Who hasn’t seen the iconic film Tommy Boy?

If you have, you’ll remember Tommy’s line, “Let me tell you why I suck,” as he explains his inadequate sales approach to a waitress while attempting to order some chicken wings.

While I’m not one to jump on the negative bus and complain about why I’m not getting what I think I deserve, I think there is something extremely valuable about the exercise of understanding specifically what we are not.  I believe it is a life saver!!

I’m a HUGE Gary Vaynerchuk fan.  Gary says in his book: Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion we must understand how to cash in on our passions.  In one of Gary’s hundreds of YouTube videos he also preaches we learn to know what we ARE NOT.  He claims (and I believe him)to only be good at a few things and leaves the rest to the talents of others.

LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I’M NOT:

  1. Interviewer: I’ve learned I’m not a great interviewer.  It’s not that I can’t ask questions, or I can’t listen to people.  My challenge is I end up selling them on how great an opportunity I believe is in front of them and challenging them to take it.  I rarely interview a new candidate on a 1st interview.  I’ve yet to meet the person who is a great interviewer, or talent fox, but I’m not losing sleep over this one anymore.
  2. Dictator Leadership: I’m not a manager in a way of dictating activity or action.  I have zero interest in hovering over someone like a child to ensure they do something 50 times in a day.  Some managers get things done this way.  I will never be this guy.  If you are this guy, don’t fight it.  Embrace your style, just be fair doing it.
  3. The Details: BORING!  I don’t have a lot of interest in specifically how work gets done on the extremely minute detail to detail level.  I need to understand the project and see what I’m going to get in the end.  I’m a big thinker.  The more time I spend “in the weeds” of the conversation the less happy I am.
  4. Great at All Things: The competitive, Type A, side of me wants to get better at my weaknesses and work on them.  But, in reality the time invested in my weaknesses when measured against my absolute strengths leaves a tremendous amount of opportunity cost on the table.  If you like math think about it this way.  If I spend 5 hours on a task where I’m only 50% as good as a talented individual I’m only getting a 2.5 hr return on my investment.  NOT GOOD.  If however, I invested 5 hours of my time on a task or project where I’m 3x (300%) better than others, I’ve now conquered 15 hours of achievement.  PS – I’m likely 10x happier in the second scenario as well.

Understanding what you are not, may feel hurtful and negative at the time.  It’s not.  Be honest and it will open your eyes.  I encourage you to take a step back from yourself and your ego (most of us have a one) and “let it go” like Elsa says.  To me personally, it was a tremendously eye opening experience and amazingly uplifting.  It’s also allowed me to say NO to many more things and focus my time and efforts.

Time is the only resource we all have the same amount of.  Why then are some ridiculously successful while others struggle solving someone else’s problems?

Words of Wisdom - from Gary V (it says 2012 but does it really matter?)

Words of Wisdom – from Gary V

ACTION ITEM: Please take a step back and find out what you are not and stop involving yourself in these activities IMMEDIATELY.  You will be less “busy” and more focused on the activities where you can make a massive impact